Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 - Germany

Population: 82.7 million (14.7 million under 18)
Government Armed Forces: 245,700
Compulsary Recruitment Age: 18
Voluntary Recruitment Age: 17 (training only)
Voting Age: 18
Optional Protocol: ratified 13 December 2004
Other Treaties: GC AP I, GC AP II, CRC, ILO 138, ILO 182, ICC

Under-18s continued to serve in the armed forces.

Government:

National recruitment legislation and practice

Article 12 of the 1949 Basic Law (constitution) provided the legal basis for conscription to military service. In accordance with the 1956 Military Service Act, all German males became liable for compulsory military service, lasting nine months, at the age of 18. Article 4b of the 1949 Basic Law established a right to conscientious objection to military service, and current provisions for alternative service, also lasting nine months, were set out in the 2003 Law on Conscientious Objection.¹ For those who became eligible for conscription at 18, a pre-induction medical examination took place no earlier than six months before their 18th birthday. Voluntary enlistment in the German armed forces was permissible at 17, provided that the individual volunteering had the consent of a parent or guardian. In such cases, a pre-induction medical examination took place six months before the applicant's 17th birthday. Volunteers under 18 were enrolled for military training only, and were expressly prohibited from participating in any military operations and from performing any function requiring the use of firearms, including deployment for armed guard duty. However, 17-year-old volunteers could receive firearms training; at the time of their enrolment they received written instructions stating that their use of firearms would be strictly limited to training, and that they would not be involved in any activity that may lead to armed conflict.² In 2005 there were 1,229 males and females under the age of 18 serving in the German armed forces. The number of under-18s serving in 2006 was 906.³

Developments:

A group of German non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working on children's rights suggested that the recruitment of child soldiers by armies or armed groups was not recognized by the authorities as a basis for granting refugee status; the number of former child soldiers currently living in Germany was estimated to be between 300 and 500. The German Code of Crimes against International Law criminalized the recruitment or enlistment of children under the age of 15 into armed forces or armed groups, as well as their active participation in international or internal armed conflicts, including such acts committed outside, or having no connection with, Germany.⁴

During the first quarter of 2006, Germany contributed approximately 83 million towards the cost of projects aiming at the reintegration of ex-combatants, especially child soldiers, in Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. Approximately €1.4 million were directed towards civil peace service programs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Uganda.⁵

At a February 2007 ministerial meeting in Paris, Germany and 58 other states endorsed the Paris Commitments to protect children from unlawful recruitment or use by armed forces or armed groups and the Paris Principles and guidelines on children associated with armed forces or armed groups. The documents reaffirmed international standards and operational principles for protecting and assisting child soldiers and followed a wide-ranging global consultation jointly sponsored by the French government and UNICEF.

International standards

Germany ratified the Optional Protocol on 13 December 2004. In its declaration entered upon ratification, Germany confirmed that 17 was the minimum age for voluntary recruitment to the armed forces, and that "persons under the age of 18 years shall be recruited into the armed forces solely for the purpose of commencing military training."⁶

1 Quaker Council for European Affairs, "The right to conscientious objection to military service in Europe: A review of the current situation", April 2005.

2 Initial report of Germany to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on implementation of the Optional Protocol, UN Doc. CRC/C/OPAC/DEU/1, 17 April 2007.

3 Confidential source, August 2007.

4 Kindernothilfe, Terre des Hommes and the German Coordination for Child Soldiers, Shadow Report in the Context of the States Report Procedure Pursuant to Article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts, 2007.

5 Initial report, above note 2.

6 Declaration of Germany on ratification of the Optional Protocol, www2.ohchr.org.